When a student first walks into the HopKins Black Box Theatre, they won’t think it’s a theatre at all. It has no stage, no curtains, nothing that a traditional theatre holds.The open floor is the stage, with the audience members sitting on risers towards the back of the room, almost on top of the performance, giving a very intimate atmosphere between performer and audience member.The floor, walls and ceiling of the theatre, originally made out of two classrooms and a hallway, are painted black, forming a black box.There is nothing traditional about the theatre, located in 137 Coates Hall, because it’s not meant to be just a theatre.”The HopKins is a lab, as much as it is a theatre,” said Lisa Flanagan, managing director of the theatre. “It is a place where people who teach or perform can run experiments.”Established in 1992 by Mary Francis Hopkins, the theatre is a non-profit space operated by the professors of the performance studies section of the department of communication studies as an area where anyone who wishes to test a question through live performance may do so and receive feedback from the audience.”The theatre is built around practice,” said Patricia Suchy,   communication studies professor. “Performance is the thing we study and the way we study.”Suchy went on to say the theatre is an interdisciplinary effort as well.”If a student in another field, like anthropology, wants to present their research as a performance, the HopKins Black Box is a perfect space to do that,” Suchy said.An example of this interdisciplinary aspect will be seen in March with the performance of “DNA Play,” a play written by biochemistry professor Vince LiCata, about the 1953 discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.Undergraduate and graduate students from across a variety of majors come together to test their ideas throughout the semester.”The theatre has made me think in different ways,” Mark Duplessis, communication studies senior, said. “While working with other people on their projects, I have been able to develop my creative reasoning, because we are not dealing with traditional pieces.”The HopKins Theatre is also set up as a classroom, a place where the audience can learn about performance.”A performance is successful, at least in my book, if an audience member leaves the theatre thinking differently about what he or she might have seen,” said Gretchen Fox, communication studies senior.This performer-audience interaction is one of the main goals of the HopKins Black Box, according to Fox.Chris Keenan, business management sophomore, saw “Crap Happens” in the HopKins Black Box Theatre, and enjoyed the experience.”The room is a bit small, but I thought the theatre had a good set-up,” Keenan said. “Because it is small, I felt like I was more involved with the play.”This semester offers a lot for students. Starting on Friday, Jan. 23 with “South of Lost,” a film about the history of experimental cinema by Joey Watson, there are performances almost every week. A full schedule of performances and times can be found at www.lsu.edu/hbb.”The performances are enriching to everyone,” Suchy said. “The HopKins is a place where performers and audience can think outside of the box while inside the box.”——Contact Jake Clapp at [email protected]